The British artist Grayson Perry (b. 1960) is known for trading a fine line between high culture and kitsch, examining how tacit sociocultural rules are manifest in everyday aesthetics. In an artistic practice spanning from ceramics, drawing and tapestry to drag performances and TV shows, he employs a visual idiom and a frame of reference that will be recognizable to most people. Perry’s wide-ranging practice was most recently unfolded in Denmark in the critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Hold Your Beliefs Lightly’ at ARoS in 2016.
‘Without pandering or overreaching, Grayson Perry’s art skewers the absurdities of modern culture, always with a twinkle in its eye. His work was a thought-provoking and witty eye-opener in the ARoS exhibition, and it is therefore a great pleasure to me that our donation now enables the museum to add one of Perry’s important works to its permanent collection,’ says Karsten Ohrt, chairman of the New Carlsberg Foundation.
All in good taste
Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close is part of a series of six tapestries based on Perry’s BAFTA-winning TV documentary All in the Best Possible Taste, which has been shown by the national Danish TV broadcaster DR. The TV series addresses what constitutes good taste in the class society that still defines British culture. Over three instalments, Perry examines the visual codes of the working class, the middle class and the upper class and the role they play for people’s self-image, sense of identity and desire for social mobility.
Although the TV series appears as a sort of ethnological fieldwork, Perry is primarily a visual artist. Thus, he chose to convey his observations in a series of large tapestries, which together tell the story of social mobility based on the fictitious protagonist ‘Tim Rakewell’. Tim, whom we have followed since birth in the previous tapestries, is now getting ready to move out of his mother’s and stepfather’s house and into a higher social class together with his girlfriend. In Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close we see him on the move, from the parents’ tract housing setting to a fancy dinner party at his in-laws’. Here, there are books on the shelves, abstract art on the wall and Apple products galore.
Kindly satire
With inspiration from popular cartoons and satirical drawings Perry creates tableaux rich in class-conditioned symbolism. He depicts everything from tribal tattoos to tweed coats with a sense of humour and rich detailing but never remains aloof or resorts to caricatures or in his portrayal of people.
